Professional Summary

Harold W. Neighbors is Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education and Director
of the Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture, and Health, where he is the Principal
Investigator of two NIH training programs, "Promoting Ethnic Diversity in Public Health
Doctoral Training" and the "Michigan Bridge to the Doctorate Program". Dr. Neighbors
is also Associate Director of the Program for Research on Black Americans at the Institute
for Social Research where co-directs the African American Mental Health Research Center
and is a Co-Principal Investigator on the National Survey of American Life. His research
interests include racial and ethnic influences on psychiatric diagnosis and community
case-finding of mental disorder, use of informal and professional mental health services
by African Americans. He is a 2004 recipient of the RWJ Investigator Award in Health
Policy Research where he will explore policy solutions for reducing racial disparities
in help-seeking and illness behavior.

Education

Ph.D., Social Psychology, University of Michigan, 1982

M.A., Social/Community Psychology, University of Michigan, 1979

B.A., Psychology, Haverford College, 1975

Research Interests & Projects

Dr. Neighbor's research interests and areas of publication include psychiatric epidemiology
with an emphasis on ethnic and cultural influences on the assessment (diagnosis and
case-finding) of mental disorder, and the utilization of informal and professional
services by African Americans. He has directed both community and institutional surveys
of African American mental health and was a recipient of a Research Scientist Development
Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, where he studied Black-White differences
in the social epidemiology of mental disorder. His prior funded research includes
a study on the diagnosis of depression and schizophrenia among African American psychiatric
inpatients, a focus group study of community perceptions of mental illness among black
men and women, and a qualitative investigation of black and white clinician perceptions
of how ethnicity and culture affect the diagnosis, rapport, and treatment of African
American mental patients. Dr. Neighbors is currently Co-Principal Investigator of
the National Survey of American Life and Director of the Methods Cores for the NIMH-funded
African American Mental Health Research Program and the NIA-funded Michigan Center
for Urban African American Aging Research. His most recent publications focus on the
role of African American ministers as a primary help source among African Americans
seeking help for emotional problems, the impact of semi-structured diagnostic instruments
on black-white differences in depression and schizophrenia, and the role of goal-striving
stress on African American mental health. He is co-editor (with James S. Jackson)
of the book, Mental Health in Black America (1996, Sage).